


Liminal

by Vagrant_Blvrd



Series: Bird on a Wire [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe-GTA V, Fake AH Crew, Gen, M/M, Pre-Fake AH Crew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 08:52:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14132556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrant_Blvrd/pseuds/Vagrant_Blvrd
Summary: Ryan's spent the last week tracking down a particularly troublesome bounty when Alfredo calls him.





	Liminal

**Author's Note:**

> [Because backstory.](https://archiveofourown.org/comments/156574095) ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Ryan's spent the last week tracking down a particularly troublesome bounty when Alfredo calls him.

He's staying in a seedy roadside motel because there's no time limit on this bounty and the little fucker had gotten lucky when he'd pulled a knife on Ryan. So no w Ryan's got a line of stitches along his ribs and a week's sleep to catch up on, and figures this is as good a place to start as any.

“Did you hear the news?” Alfredo asks, none of his usual chatter or windup, just straight to the matter at hand and that has Ryan snapping snapping out of the doze he'd fallen into.

“Alfredo?”

There's a pause, as though Alfredo's trying to find a way to break whatever bad news he has to Ryan, and then - 

“Your boy's in deep shit,” he says, lowers his voice. “I don't want to know what he did to get someone this mad at him? But it's got to be something serious, man.”

“He's not 'my boy',” Ryan snaps, because there's only one person Alfredo could be talking about, and goddamn, did Ryan fuck that one up a long time ago. “The hell is going on?”

Alfredo hems and haws, makes these little noises of uncertainty that does absolutely nothing to reassure Ryan.

“People are riled up,” he finally settles on, note of concern slipping into his voice because Alfredo may talk about being an independent in Los Santos. One of the last true neutral parties, but everyone knows he's in tight with Collins, and everyone knows Collins is a shot-caller for the Fakes these days. “His name keeps coming up. You tell me what that means."

Nothing good, that's for damn sure. If Alfredo's calling him after hearing those kind of rumors, it means some kind of bounty's been put out on the Golden Boy's head, or will be soon enough. Something big, if Alfredo's this worried.

“The Fakes - “

“A little bird tells me he's away from the nest at the moment,” Alfredo says. “Makes for an easy target.”

Ryan closes his eyes, _thinks_.

It's been years since that clusterfuck in the tunnels under Los Santos, since he did the wrong thing for the right reason and fucked everything up when things went to shit on him the way they always do. 

The odds that Gavin would be happy to see him even though they've reached some form of equilibrium, an understanding, are ridiculously small. 

The two of them have gone out of their way to avoid crossing paths over the years. Ryan focusing more on bounties that take him out of Los Santos more often than not and Gavin Gavin joining the Fake AH Crew, skillset shifting as he took on new roles to help shape the crew into what it is today.

“Where is he?” Ryan asks, because Alfredo's had years to figure out just how much of an idiot Ryan is, the kinds of mistakes he prone to make, will never learn from.

“Funny you should ask,” Alfredo says, as though he's been waiting for Ryan to ask, and then pauses _because_ he's been waiting for Ryan to ask. “You sure you want to get involved in this? Could get ugly."

Ryan's already on his feet, though. Decision made as he sweeps gear into his bag, keys to the rental car he's been using in his hand and waiting on Alfredo to point him in a direction.

“Alfredo - “

Alfredo mumbles something about _”'not your boy', my ass”_ and then he's back, gives Ryan a destination and something of a plan.

Not a great one, all told. More desperation and making it up as they go along, but that's kind of par for the course, really. Nothing new there.

========

The closest airport is an hour's drive north of the motel, but Ryan makes it in just over half an hour by pushing the rental as hard as it'll go. Pedal to the floor the whole way and dodging speed traps through sheer luck.

Alfredo's been busy while Ryan was on the road.

Sets Ryan up with plane tickets under the fake name he's been using that will bring him to where Gavin's been stranded. Some little out of the way airport with a massive thunderstorm system moving in. Gets him another rental car, something that can push through the storm if it comes to that. (It's up to Ryan to get through security on his own, but he's an old hand at this and knows his way around that set of obstacles.)

The flight he takes is on a turboprop that covers several hundred miles in the span of an hour and change when they run into strong headwinds. From there it's a near-run through the terminal to get to the gate Alfredo gives him, on the lookout for trouble along the way.

He gets families and business people. College kids going home for break. Tired and overworked flight crews, airport workers, and - 

Big bastards standing almost a head above the crowd they're searching. Broad shoulders and ugly as hell, faces that have had a hard life, met a fist or two in their time. 

“Fuck.”

The McMillan twins, brothers with a reputation for getting whatever job they've been hired to do in the messiest way possible for the sheer fun of it. They've been at it for years, tend to roam around the East Coast so Ryan's dealings with them have been few and far between. 

If they're involved in this, that bounty on Gavin's head has to be substantial.

Not for the first time Ryan's glad for his mask, the face paint, because the McMillans won't recognize him on sight. 

Problem is, neither will Gavin.

Movement at the corner of his eye draws Ryan's attention, and speak of the devil, there's Gavin.

Ryan's done a lot of things he's not proud of over the years. Things he regrets, and that moment in the subway tunnels under Los Santos tops that list.

He's done what he can to...not quite atone for it, doesn't think he could, but he's done what he can to look out for Gavin afterward. 

Has an agreement with Alfredo to keep Ryan updated on anything that pops up regarding Gavin. Old enemies or new ones who go sniffing for information on him, trouble the Fakes – Gavin himself – might have stirred up and wasn't aware of. 

Things like whatever is going on now, and Alfredo does it because he's got an in with Collins, and both of them are fond of Gavin. See it as a good thing that the Vagabond is invested in keeping Gavin safe (safer), and if that means keeping the whole stupid mess a secret from Gavin and the rest of the Fakes, it's a fair enough price. 

Ryan pushes down the tangle of emotions that rise up when he lays eyes on Gavin in person for the first time in a long, long time, because the McMillans are working their way closer to him. Don't seem to have noticed him yet, but Gavin's sure as hell noticed them.

Tense set to his shoulders as he does his best to slip through the people between him and escape in the form of darkened stretch of terminal corridor between gates. Parking lots and his pick of cars that no one will miss for a while yet, chance to put distance between him and these bruisers. Get somewhere he can formulate an actual strategy to getting out of this in one piece.

And then one of the twins turns – maybe chance, maybe he twigs to something off about that one skinny bastard making his way through the crowd – it doesn't matter because he's seen Gavin. Starts shoving his way toward him, and Gavin doesn't _panic_ , but there's certainly desperation in the way he's pushing through the throng of people in front of him.

Ryan bares his teeth in a smile – polite, sure, but enough predator in it that people notice. React to it on a subconscious level the way they do when someone moves with purpose, and it definitely helps that Ryan's a big guy. People move aside for him without being fully conscious of it, and suddenly Gavin's _right there_.

Close enough for Ryan to reach out. Curl his fingers around Gavin's wrist and start leading him towards their exit route. 

But because this is Gavin, he balks soon after. Startled, stubborn as all hell. (Paranoid, and for good reason.)

“Not that I don't appreciate this,” Gavin says, tripping over someone's carry-on and running into Ryan's back before he catches himself, “but I don't believe we've met?” 

It's like a throwback to their first meeting years and years (an entire lifetime) ago. Gavin running on fumes, blinking up at Ryan after walking right into him in a rundown warehouse the crew who'd hired both of them was using. Surprised, bewildered, and a mouth on him even then.

He wants to laugh, maybe, or Christ, who the hell knows at this point because Gavin doesn't know who he is. Wouldn't be talking to Ryan like that if he did, aiming for light, for friendly.

And Ryan - 

There's got to be something wired wrong in his head that he falls back on the way they used to banter – bicker – whichever way back when. Easy little give and take and something else under it all building to something that had never come to fruition thanks to Ryan and his _decisions_.

“Are you sure about that?” Ryan asks, lets it roll into something teasing. Smooth and this side of smug, and he sees the exact moment realization dawns on Gavin. Hits him _hard_ , and it's a fight not to wince when he does.

“ _You_ ,” Gavin murmurs, barely a whisper, like the wind's been knocked out of him, and stands there staring at Ryan like he's seen a ghost. (Nightmare come to life, nipping at his heels, perhaps.)

Back then, before things went to hell and Ryan fucked up, he'd never taken his mask off around Gavin. Never shown him his face, and for some inexplicable reason that had been fine with Gavin. Just something someone like Ryan did in a city like Los Santos. Worried about someone finding out who he was, of getting too close.

Now -

“As much as I'd love to catch up with you,” Ryan says, glancing over Gavin's shoulder where the McMillans are getting a little more aggressive with the people surrounding them. Not bothering with subtlety anymore, although to be fair it's not as though they were trying all that hard before, either. “I really don't think now is the time for that, do you?”

Gavin's eyes narrow as he backs up a step, and Ryan - 

He tightens his hold for a moment, fear spiking in his chest before he forces himself to let go because this - _no_.

“Well, I mean,” Gavin says, look in his eye like he was expecting a fight, “we didn't exactly part on good terms the last time around, now did we?”

He's strung tight, no idea the scope of the trouble he's in, and yet he's not about to back down from it either. Wheels turning in his head even as he's facing the threat of the McMillans on one side with the unknown factor of the Vagabond suddenly appearing on the other. 

Has to be wondering how Ryan tracked him down here after the various events that coincided to strand Gavin here, now.

“Look,” Ryan says, putting so much faith, trust, in the fact that Gavin's had all this time, resources at his disposal to take care of Ryan – pay him back for that betrayal in the subway tunnels – and hasn't yet. That he's passed on warnings to Ryan from time to time that have saved his life. “There might have been some misunderstandings - “

It's a mistake, Ryan knows the moment the words leave his mouth because Gavin's eyes narrow, anger and incredulousness. This sharp edge to all of it it when he presses forward into Ryan's space, forcing him back, jabs him in the chest pointedly as he speaks, voice a low hiss.

“'Misunderstandings'? You shot me! You call that a misunderstanding?”

Ryan holds his hands up, pastes on a surprised, awkward smile because people are starting to look their way, notice something odd taking place. Something that might have an airline agent calling security to prevent an incident from occurring, or provoke the McMillans from acting rashly. Pull one of the weapons he knows they have to be carrying, start a goddamned shootout.

“Just a little! Flesh wound, really,” he says, keeping a close eye on where the McMillans are shoving people aside in their haste to get to the two of them. “And I'm very sorry about that, I swear.”

More than Gavin knows, but this isn't the place to hash all of that out. (Or maybe it is, God knows Ryan's hardly the best judge when it comes to these things.)

Gavin's just watching him. Expression unreadable, nothing for Ryan to work with, let him know what Gavin's thinking.

It causes Ryan to laugh, no humor to it as he looks away for a moment, and then forces himself to meet Gavin's eyes because he owes him that much. Offers up the only thing he can at the moment, hope it's something Gavin will listen to. 

“I may not have made the best decisions the last time we met,” and it's such a horrendous understatement, isn't it? “but I need you to trust me on this when I tell you I'm not your enemy.”

Gavin tips his head to the side, thinking, thinking, _thinking_ , and time running out on them, second after second after second. 

“Please, Gavin,” Ryan says, honest as he knows how, because it's all he has to give Gavin.

And Gavin -

He sighs, rueful, and reaches for Ryan. 

"As long as you don't shoot me again," Gavin says, doesn't quite smile but there's something so familiar in his voice that Ryan can't help but laugh.

"I'll do my best not to, but no promises,” Ryan says, like a reflex, and gets them out of there, hoping like hell he doesn't make the sale old mistakes again.

========

The storm hits on their way out of the city. Booming thunder, and blinding flashes of lightning. Rain sheeting across the road, the rental car wipers straining to keep up.

Gavin's quiet beside him, lost in thought as he watches the storm. 

Ryan's words are tangled up on themselves, too many and not enough at the same time, and he's afraid of what he would say if he tried, so he settles on saying nothing.

They stop at a 24/7 a few hours down the road when Ryan feels they've got a good head start, no signs of having picked up a tail. Clear skies above them with the storm far behind.

Gavin opts to stay in the car to make some phone calls while Ryan goes inside for food and supplies. It's been a long day for both of them and Ryan is starving. He suspects Gavin must be too.

When he comes back out, Gavin's leaning against the side of the car with his head tipped back to look at the stars, hands in his pockets. He turns his head when he hears Ryan approaching, and Ryan's never seen him look like this. Frayed and worn and _tired_.

“Geoff says someone put a bounty on my head,” Gavin says, slow, thoughtful, and Ryan feels queasy at the suspicion in his eyes. The careful way he's watching Ryan, and the way he's holding himself so, so _still_. “Enough to make someone very, very rich. Set them up for life.”

Countless people in Los Santos who'd risk anything for something like that, even the wrath of the Fake AH Crew and their allies. 

“Alfredo thought that might be the case,” Ryan admits, hating the way Gavin's looking at him, like he thinks this is all just another trick on Ryan's part. That Ryan could kill him at all, that Ryan himself put the possibility of that in his head in the first place, and yet Gavin's still here. Stupid or brave or a bit a both, the same as Ryan. “He's the one who told me where to find you.”

Gavin cocks his head, eyes going to the bags Ryan's holding and up to his face, calculating, and somehow Ryan's forgotten this even though he knows better. 

Gavin is _dangerous_. Fools you with all of his smiles and carefree recklessness, uses that to distract from that clever mind of his. The way he doesn't think in straight lines, comes at you from angles you hadn't considered possible. Breaks you down so beautifully you won't notice until it's too late.

Ryan waits, and Gavin doesn't disappoint. 

Smiles, small and crooked as he holds a hand out, little _gimme_ gesture that has Ryan taking an energy drink from one of the bags and tossing it to Gavin. Pulls a diet soda out and leans against the car next to Gavin as he cracks it open and takes a drink.

 _Liminal spaces_ Ryan thinks, eyes drawn to the flickering neon sign of the 24/7 near the road. Listens to the sounds of crickets and other night insects, the far off cry of an owl in the woods beyond the parking lot. Traffic on the highway just out of sight.

Beside him, Gavin laughs, weary amusement as he comes to some kind of decision.

“Looks like it's going to be an interesting trip back to Los Santos,” Gavin says, tension draining out of him as he falls back into that little slouching of his. “Fair amount of people after me and all.”

Ryan hums, bumping his shoulder against Gavin's. Watches his smile go a little rueful as he leans against Ryan, seeking warmth because he's always run a little cold.

“Looks like, yeah.”

Gavin laughs again, lighter. A spark in his eye as he looks at Ryan, and for the first time in what feels like forever, Ryan thinks they might be able to make this thing between them work, that he didn't manage to completely destroy it all those years ago.


End file.
